[123043] York : Treasurer's House - Side Cabinet

Treasurer's House, Minster Yard, York, c14-c18.

The National Trust.

Restored 1898-1900 by Temple Moore for Frank Green of Wakefield.

 

Side Cabinet - one of a pair.

Ebony, tortoiseshell, brass, gilt bronze.

France, c1860.

 

One of a pair of ebony, brass inlaid tortoiseshell and gilt brass mounted 'Boulle' side cabinets. Late 17th / early 18th century style, inlaid with première and contra partie 'Boulle' work, each cabinet with a pair of panelled cupboard doors, raised on a shaped plinth and turned feet, with arabesque scroll work and cast mounts.

 

This house was the residence of the treasurers of York Minster from 1100 until the office was abolished by Henry VIII. It belonged to 3 post-Reformation Archbishops of York, the last of whom, Thomas Young, rebuilt it. Further alterations were made in the early 17th century; the building fell into decline during the 19th century by which time Young’s mansion had been split into at least five separate properties. The present garden front with its classical central entrance bay dates from c.1630. It now contains the furniture collection of the wealthy industrialist and aesthete Frank Green, who restored and remodelled the building after acquiring it in 1897. Inside, Green’s architect, Temple Moore, created a huge hall out of the 2-storey central block with a half-timbered gallery supported by classical columns. There is an early 18th-century staircase that has been attributed to the joiner-architect William Thornton, who worked at Beningbrough.

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